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FLick3r's heavy burst/DPS Bowman Build
The archer has the best constant DPS(Damage per Second) potential in PvE out of any class in VS; this build is based around maximizing your DPS and burst potential. With each Bowman's normal attack, 3 arrows are fired directly upward in quick succession. Bowmen have NO bullet clearing skills, and only one passive that clears bullets at a small % chance. You should be comfortable dodging dense bullet patterns and maneuvering under enemies to maximize your damage. If you're interested in commenting on my build, feel free to click the "Discussion" Page on the upper right and ask questions. FLick3r 22:08, March 13, 2010 (UTC) The Build Sniper (Triple Expert): Dual/Rapid/Dragon/Phoenix/Pain/Orb Start as Archer. Level 1 - 12 JP Learn Level 1 Dual (12 points, 12 points used). Level 3 - 28 JP Learn Level 1 Rapid (12 more points, 24 points used, 4 left) ASAP to maximize skill expertise. Drop Dual/Rapid in skill table for level 1 piercing. to Level 9 - 76 JP Max Dual (48 more points, 72 total points used, 4 left); save points for level 15. Level 15 - 120 JP Change to Ranger. Learn Level 1 Dragon, Level 1 Phoenix (24 more points, 96 total) ASAP to maximize skill expertise. Drop both in skill table (RAAR). You should have enugh extra points to get Dragon to level 3. (24 more points, 120 points total) to Level 18 - 144 JP Max Dragon (24 more points, 144 points total) to Level 24 - 192 JP Max Phoenix (48 more points, 192 total) to Level 30 - 240 JP Switch back to Archer, finish Rapid. (48 more points, 240 total) Level 45 - 360 JP Switch to Hunter, Max Pain and Orb (120 more points, 360 total). Triple Expert! Get Sniper Meta. Level 53 - 428 JP Switch to Ranger, Max Lead Shot (60 more points, 420 total, 8 leftover). Finish Skill Table (RRRA). Level 60 - 480 JP I dunno. go wild! End result: maxed skills: Dual/Rapid, Pain/Arrow Orb, Lead/Phoenix/Dragon table: RRRA (2x burst, 2x endurance) Sniper meta. Stat Build #DEX first to maximize your regular attack damage and critical rate. #INT/CHM isn't horrible, as your burst damage skills will benefit from those, but again your first priority should be DEX. #LUK is useful for all classes to get better loot = more money, and a minor crit bonus, but isn't top priority. #STR is largely worthless for a bowman; it's not worth it to waste a stat point for the critical damage increase, DEX provides a much larger increase in DPS. Skills Archer Archer skills revolve around maximizing the archer's regular attack. The skills may not seem to scale well (.5 second increase in duration for each level), but remember that level 5 of each buff allows you to use the buffs consecutively. For example, a full Dual Shot can be used for 8 + 7.5 + 7 + 6.5 + 6 = 35 continuous seconds, possibly even longer if you count natural skill recharging. With Endurance (A/R passive), you can use them for even longer. *'Dual Shot'(DPS skill)- Splits your arrows into two streams, directed 30 degrees to the left and right of vertical. This skill is useful in all sorts of situations. It's easily spammable, and doubles your DPS, and allows you to hit enemies that are covered by swaths of bullets underneath them. *Mirror Shot (DPS skill)- Each arrow that hits an enemy will in turn fire off two arrows, one directly to the left, and one directly to the right. Though this theoretically doubles your DPS, it's limited in usefulness (eg. only in large swarms on both sides of the screen), and can't be used as universally as Dual/Rapid. *'Rapid Shot'(DPS skill)- Increases your firing rate dramatically. By my rough estimate, it appears to double your firing rate. Combined with Dual, this can quadruple your DPS. *''Chasing Shot'' (pseudo-homing skill)- You move slower (-30%), but with every shot, you turn and fire directly at enemies. Very very useful for killing enemies behind you. Hunter Hunter skills are general utility skills, capable of putting out large amounts of burst damage. *Volley Shot (pseudo homing burst skill) - "loads" a volley of arrows behind you, then releases all of them to home in on targets when you hit fire. The major problem with this skill is that it renders you immobile while the arrows are loaded, vastly diminishing its utility. *'Pain Shot' (burst skill) - fires a storm cloud in front of you to deal very large damage in a small area. Very useful for bossing and taking down meaty magic mobs, but otherwise less useful. *'Arrow Orb' (burst/aoe)- Highly spammable nuke. Fires an orb roughly 1/2 the screen vertically in front of you, which explodes into a spiral of bullets. As it covers the entire screen, does excellent AoE (each bullet can hit 2 enemies), and in addition, it can deal heavy damage to bosses if the orb explodes in the enemy's hitbox. *''Arbalest (dps) - summons launchers at your current location, which fire arrows aimed by your movements. On paper, this increases your dps dramatically, and may be the bowman's best skill (5 launchers = 6x dps). In reality though, it's highly situational, the launchers have big spaces between them (you can't focus, and it's difficult to aim properly), and the skill damage scales with INT/CHM. Since we're outting DEX, this is much less effective than dual/rapid. Not to mention the aiming is highly dependent on your position relative to the launchers, which is often dictated by the bullets on the screen/fired by the boss. Ranger Ranger skills specialize in burst damage. *'Lead Shot''' (homing skill) - fires a series of arrows that home on enemies. Possibly the best PvP skill, as its homing is absolutely unavoidable. A decent option for PvE as well, as it is spammable and has a decent clip (3/level). The damage is a little low, but the homing proves very useful. *'Phoenix Arrow' (burst/aoe)- fires a slow, upward moving phoenix. This skill is an excellent control skill, as it does very good damage, and can hit multiple times. Using this on the right/left side of the screen essentially clears that side for a full 1-2 seconds. And, it can be used on bosses for large DPS, though it has to be timed properly. *Dragon Arrow (burst/aoe)- fires a series of dragons outward from the bowman. This skill hits multiple times for each dragon, does great damage, and is possibly the best AoE as at level 5, it can annihilate nearly everything in the upper half of the screen in one shot. It must be used sparingly, however, as it has only 1 shot/level. *''Twister'' (burst/aoe)- Summons tornado spirits which alternately fires shots 45 degrees to the left and right. Seems a decent control skill (it stays on the screen for a while), but I think the bowman has several better options that either deal more concentrated DPS (dual/rapid), or can dish the same amount of damage faster (lead/dragon/phoenix/orb). Alternative Skillsets *Dual/Rapid: Dual/Rapid are pretty much essential for nearly every mainstream bowman, as combined, they allow you to quadruple your DPS for close to a minute. With passives, this can allow you to down bosses faster than any class in the game. *A bowman should also have at least one burst skill. There are several meaty magic enemies that make survival a lot more difficult, as they put out a disproportionally large amount of bullets. It's paramount that you down these guys ASAP, which means putting out a lot of damage in a short amount of time (burst). *The remaining skill slot can either be a second burst skill (to deal with multiple heavies), or a utility skill (to hit enemies that come behind you). I've bolded 'the skills above that I like. ''Italicized ''skills are situational. These are the only ones I would really consider using in my active slots. If you're going for a specific metamorphosis (at level 30/45), you may have to deal with some poorer skills, but this could arguably pay off with a stronger meta. Suggested (in my perceived order of strength/utility): #'Dual/Rapid/Dragon/Orb: Dual/Rapid (self explanatory). Dragon covers the entire screen and does large damage instantly. Orb covers the entire screen (and has the added benefit of killing enemies that come from behind), and is highly spammable. Cons: no homing, skilling from 3 classes makes 2nd job change difficult. #'Dual/Rapid/Phoenix/Dragon': My build. Dual/Rapid (self explanatory). Phoenix/Dragon for bursting down heavies. Cons: Phoenix/Dragon are 12 JP skills and have slow recharge times. You'll need to manage your burst damage very carefully, and place it for maximum effectiveness. Phoenix is good burst, but there are other skills that may work better. #'Dual/Rapid/Phoenix/Pain': Specialized for putting out the most damage on bosses. I can't think of a faster way to down bosses, provided you are able to maintain your position under them (which is a big if). Cons: highly positionally dependent, high CDs, no good AoE. #'Dual/Rapid/Dragon/Chasing': Same as #1, except we have chasing. Good if you're really concerned about enemies from behind, but you sacrifice mobility and a lot of damage. #'Dual/Rapid/Dragon/Lead Shot': Optimized for PvP. Dragon is difficult to dodge and Lead is great. In PvE, you have burst from dragon and Lead, and the homing from Lead will help with behind enemies. Cons: decreased damage potential, Lead doesn't reliably kill enemies from behind. #'Some combination of Dragon/Phoenix/Orb/Pain Shot/Lead': Can put out a lot of burst, but you'll need to carefully manage your cooldowns in order to make sure you can deal with a constant stream of enemies. I might consider Twister or Arbalest just to make sure I could deal with enemies over a longer period of time. Metamorphosis I'd just get whatever my skillset brings me closest to. IMHO levelling Meta skills is a waste of JP for the following reasons: #12 JP for a minor (~10% increase) in a skill is a huge waste. To fully max a meta skill, we'd need 30 x 12 = 360 skill points (45 levels). For the same amount of points, you could master 6 new 1st job skills, which is more than enough to completely redo your active slots or your skill table. #You can't use 1st job skills during meta. This means... if you need to burst down an opponent, clear stuff behind you, do any other things your 1st job skills help you with and your meta doesn't... you're screwed. #Archer passives rock. See below for Burst mathcraft. 2x bursts roughly multiply your damage output by 2.5x. I'd like to see the meta that can deal that much to one target. Sniper (3E) seems genuinely useful to me - it essentially gives you a mechanism to attack enemies behind you. Striker (Master Archer) and Assaulter (Master Hunter) could be useful as well. Buster(Master Ranger) is as of yet unknown. Guardian(2E) and Gunner(1M/1E) seem largely crappy to me. Assaulter - Requirement: Level 30 + Assaulter license + Master Hunter - Stats requirement: 34 Str, 45 Dex, 27 Int, 26 Charm and 18 Luck - Metamorph skill: Twin bow Buster - Requirement: Level 30 + Buster license + Master Ranger - Stats requirement: 37 Str, 56 Dex, 21 Int, 21 Charm and 15 Luck - Metamorph skill: Bow Axe Striker - Requirement: Level 30 + Striker license + Master Archer - Stats requirement: 29 Str, 43 Dex, 28 Int, 31 Charm and 19 Luck - Metamorph skill: Great Bow Sniper - Requirement: Level 45 + Sniper license + Triple expert - Stats requirement: 47 Str, 83 Dex, 42 Int, 40 Charm and 13 Luck - Metamorph skill: Crossbow Gunner - Requirement: Level 45 + Gunner license + One master + One expert - Stats requirement: 45 Str, 73 Dex, 42 Int, 47 Charm and 18 Luck - Metamorph skill: Cannon Skill Table Setups A - Archer H - Hunter R - Ranger I would order your skill table according to the following priorities: *'Burst '(R/R) is hands down the largest damage dealing move in the game. Each explosion can hit multiple (3-4 times) times on an opponent. When you account for the huge 15% chance and 180% attack damage at level 5, this allows you to annihilate anything sturdy in less than half the time. Consider: one proc of an explosion on an enemy will do up to 180% x 3-4 = 540-720% additional ''damage on an opponent. That's like a 6.4-8.2x critical! ---- Mathcrafting a bit: If we consider each burst to hit an enemy 3 times (540% additional damage), then one burst effectively increases your damage to .85 x 1 + .15 x 6.4 = '''181% of the original amount'. 1 x burst in your skill table increases your damage by 81%. Assuming burst stacks diminishingly, then having two bursts in your skill table increases your damage to .7225 x 1 + .2775 x 6.4 = ~250% of the original amount. 2 x burst in your skill table is a 150% damage increase! ---- *'Snare '(H/H) is very useful... when it procs. The problem is with a 5% chance of working at level 5, it's far from a reliable bullet clearing mechanism. Still, it's a definite pro to put in the table if you have the Hunter skills. *'Endurance '(A/R) is very useful, as it stacks, and extends your Archer buffs a LOT (30% at level 5). Two of these means an 8 second buff goes to 12.8 seconds! Lots more time to Dual/Rapid. *'Piercing '(A/A) is okay for penetrating crowded mobs, but is in pretty much every other aspect outclassed by Burst. *'Bow Mastery'(A/H) / Shrewdness(H/R) are bleh. They increase your damage a bit (5% at max level), but should be second priority compared to the other 4 passives. My ideal setup with pretty much any dual/rapid build would be (going clockwise around the circle) #RRRA (Burst x 2, Endurance x 2). Two Bursts stack diminishingly to create a 27.75% chance of procing, and two Endurances give you a 60% buff time extension. #RAAR (Burst, Piercing, Endurance, Endurance). Best skill table setup if you have 2 ranger/two archer skills. Ideally, I'd be working towards RRRA, though. #RARA (Endurance x 4) 120% buff time extension means you can pretty much dual/rapid infinitely. I'd probably only consider this, however, if I had 4 duration skills (archer skills, arbalest, twister). Note that RRRA will increase your damage way more than RARA under dual/rapid due to the burst damage. #HHHH (Snare x 4) Maximizes your chances of blocking bullets. Imho, other combinations aren't as good as these. Category:Bowman Builds